Indulge Your Shelf

I finished my Jane Austen fabric journal!  I have loved just about every minute of this project -- and am happy with the results.  As you can see, this particular book has the theme of her novel Emma . So happy, in fact, I made you a video of it!  When he was home last month, Ben encouraged me to begin videotaping my projects, including how-tos, and this was my very first attempt at it!  And, while it's not the most impressive video, as I'm still learning,  I hope you still enjoy it!

For my birthday last year, Karla gifted me with a blank Natures Blessing Journal to create with. I've been saving it and just began some work in it.  Wanna see? Included with the ;journal were some pages to color; I used watercolor pencils and had the most relaxing afternoon at work coloring in between phone calls!   It is therapeutic. On these pages I made a simple background and glued on some lovely postcards I've collected. This one of Paris... and this one by the wonderful Hope from Paper Relics . Another layout... with the second doodle page I colored... and this simple page with embellishments of ribbon, buttons, a feather, and some birds, of course.   I was inspired to write the title of a song I was listening to one one side. This page is a collage I made years ago -- I glued it into the book's last page. I love the little calling card's sentiment: May your life be peace. Thinking of Spring and nature's blessings t...

I was reading Somerset Studio recently and saw a book that an artist made for times she needed creative inspiration.  It was so pretty that it totally inspired me to make one for myself. I really need some writing encouragement these days.  I have a selection of favorite quotes about writing that are meaningful to me, so I started there. I printed some of them out for my own writing inspiration journal.  Then, using a base of scrap booking paper and lots of paper ephemera, I collaged a bunch of pages for the quotes. I used paint, gesso, and stamps and then sealed it all with Decoupage.  I worked really quickly. The pages aren't real refined, but... they really do the trick for me! I've always loved that W. Somerset Maugham quote; I used to have it printed on my business cards!  On another page, I hand wrote one of my favorite quotes, by Unknown: Reading about writing is not writing; talking about writing is not writing; thinking about ...

On Christmas afternoon, I printed out some of my favorite shots of our holiday season onto 4"x6" photo paper; I also printed forty or so smaller photos onto cardstock to cut up; then, I put them all into this Christmas ephemera journal that I had for sale in  my handmade Etsy shop .  Two had already sold, and this one remained so I snatched it up for myself! The front and back covers were an accounting book in bright red that I'd embellished. Inside, the journal was ready made with Christmas-themed ephemera pages -- like the Hallmark postcard, to which I added a birds nest and the word, Noel. A photo of our Christmas tree fit nicely on the back of the postcard.  Then I added some photos to the sheet music pages that followed; I used a vintage gift tag as a journaling spot. I journaled directly on the page elements, like the envelope (oops! 'just noticed it should say Littleton instead of Castle Rock!) , and sometimes I just wrote right on the page ...

My friend Pam over at Finderskeepers has a Christmas project she works on annually: to fill a stocking for the homeless with useful gifts, to include a journal.  Her vision is to give children a place to be creative with crayons, and for adults to put down their thoughts while they are on their difficult journey.  Pam is inviting her blog readers and friends to send her a journal with an inspirational message for her project.  Her specifications are simple -- to make a journal with whatever supplies you have on hand, to include an inspirational message, and send to her for her gift stockings as soon as you can! She inspired me to make a journal this weekend, and if you like the idea, too, visit her blog post about her project for more details!

Part of what is helping me out of my sadness and rut these last couple of weeks is doing a little creating for my friends.  LuLu Kellog and I just finished an impromptu swap of buttons; she sent me this pretty package of some of her favorites, because she's sweet like that: ...beautifully wrapped, of course, because it is LuLu! I then got to work picking out buttons and decorating a pretty little box to send to her! I could do this all day! Are you in the mood for a button swap? Then be sure to see the end of this post for some good news! This package went off to Karla Nathan : Inside was a large, old medallion of a woodland fairy that I thought she'd love. Everytime I see fairies or nympths -- I think of Karla! Mina inspired me to make a journal, just for her... which was just the push I needed as I've since started on more for the shop! It was long overdue, too. Flounces! Can you guess what this pink, frothy pile of lovely is? That's right -- I found another crinol...